When a woman walked to work recently in the bustling metropolis of Shenzhen, she, like many millions of other Chinese, jaywalked, cutting across a side street to avoid a long detour to a crosswalk.

What happened next, as documented by the woman, a writer calling herself Mao Yan, was an illustration of a brave new world being born in China. Two traffic policemen approached the woman and told her that she had violated the traffic regulations of China.